I did try it a few times, but each time it took me away from the article I had come to read and dumped me on the homepage. Unacceptable.
On the plus side, it did appear to load a lot quicker than the 'Classic' mode.
And it's not apt/deb. Deb is the whole reason I gave up on Linux for a decade and will never return to a Debian-based distibution. The problems with RPM you list in the second paragraph have happened to me in the past, but not for over two years and only when I was doing things "off the beaten track". Also, I understand the SPEC format and have no idea how Deb is easier. So, this boils down to opinion, and your opinion appears to be based on whimsy at best, rather than fact.
TL;DR: RPM's not the greatest solution (fact), but Apt/Deb is worse (opinion).
It's really quite boring, actually. My employer requires software to get its business done. They use a vast array of proprietary and open source software and throw teams of business and software folk at it. The open source stuff gets contributions through this system (as does the proprietary) and everyone may benefit from it (unlike the proprietary). As in my initial (obviously poorly thought out and rushed) post, somebody wants the work to get done, they're willing to pay for that work, they take the benefits and (where possible) contribute the results to everyone else without expecting compensation. As with any business, there are lots of times when this isn't possible, but one can see that 'free' is of great benefit without big impacts to "making the world go 'round".
I often pay for apps and software in general (especially the 'free' stuff), usually because I believe that those products are valuable. The people who run those projects are mixed between those who expect compensation and those who are probably going to keep at it anyway. I personally don't understand why people would bother 'pirating' mobile apps, as there are so many that each do the same thing, if someone's trying to stitch you up by over-charging or micro-payment trickery, you'd just move on to the next one, surely? If people are going to the trouble of 'pirating' on the platform under discussion, I can't imaging them doing so for any reason other than directly annoying the author or otherwise being treacherous. Or perhaps just because they can? You are never going to get money from these consumers of your product, so why bother crying about it?
Plenty of folk are enjoying the spoils of their efforts on the platform (either monetarily or they're just having fun doing it), so it appears that this situation is one of a poor value proposition so there will be less genuine customers, because genuine customers won't wait for compensation to become reasonable and have moved on.
FORTRAN is not a flower but a weed -- it is hardy, occasionally blooms, and grows in every computer. -- A.J. Perlis